Adolescence Lost: Forced Adulthood and a Fragile Future for Syria's Next Generation

“Syria’s youth have already endured a lifetime’s worth of difficult experiences while still teenagers,” says Joanne Glover, Syria Program Performance and Quality Director for Mercy Corps. “Many of those the research team met have lost family and friends to violence or displacement, while others have been wounded themselves or witnessed unimaginable brutality. Some have even been widowed or lost their own children. They are acutely aware of what they have lost, and their pain is persistent.”

Researchers found that:

• 78 percent of boys and 69 percent of girls we interviewed were not attending school or another type of educational programming;
• Most young men and a large number of young women felt that there was no longer any point in pursuing formal education;
• Many adolescents reported not only already being married — as are 18 percent of girls in Menbij and 20 percent in Atareb — but also already having their own children, or even multiple children. Some were even divorced or widowed as teenagers.